


To Keep An Oath

by RainySteve



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 16:26:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16747492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainySteve/pseuds/RainySteve





	1. Chapter 1

It was like it was all happening in slow motion around her. No sound, no color, it was simply happening and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was too far; she couldn't possibly get there in time. All her smarts -all that she valued for so long- told her just that. Impossible. No matter how fast she ran, it was impossible to get to him in time. 

"YOU WILL SUFFER MY WRATH PERSEUS JACKSON!" The Giant -the last one- was sinking, they'd won. "I WILL NOT GO ALONE!"

He lunged too fast, it was all a blur to her. They both fell, the Giant crumbling to yellow dust and Percy to his knees. She was already speeding towards him, as fast as her legs could carry. She wanted to be Frank and spur some wings, she wanted to get to him. Was it too late?

"No no no" 

 Her heart wrenched in her chest. He wasn't dead but the scene in front of her still made her blood turn to ice. He laid sprawled in the grassland; looking too pale, too  _lifeless._ He was covered in blood form other wounds he'd gained but the main source was one in his chest, below his rib cage. It had tattered his shirt to bits, he was almost unconscious. "Don't you dare close your eyes Seaweed Brain" she was scared she wouldn't see them again. She knelt beside him and cradled his head unto her lap. "You stay with me" He couldn't go, not him, not like this. 

He managed to open those beautiful bright, green eyes wide enough for him to look at her. It struck her that this had been the same way she'd looked at him the first time. That time when she asked Chiron if it was him, that courageous twelve-year old boy, it had been. "I'm sorry, Annabeth" he croaked. "I won't be able to keep my promise"

Thunder rumbled, she felt like she'd been hit by lightning. 

_An oath to keep with a final breath._

His eyes closed, he went limp.

"No"


	2. Chapter 2

The most overwhelming amount of desperation took over her. She wanted to scream and yank her hair out, she wanted to break something.  _How was this fair?_ All she could really do was sit there numb with desolation as the one person she loved the most, the one boy that deserved to live, died. 

She'd checked the wound: poison. She'd never seen it before but she felt its power. It was an ancient type of venom that she felt not even Apollo could heal. It was as sickly as it's creators, just as evil. What was she against something so potent? She was nothing but a mortal.

"I love you Perseus Jackson" She growled. It wasn't something sweet or tender, it was cruel. Because that's how love had treated her: cruelly. It had tore her apart in the best of ways and it was so painful to admit she'd rather live with than without it.

She could only grip as tight as she could to him before he left.

"You're completely right Annabeth" , the goddess of love told her. She hadn't even felt her appear but there she stood, proud and tall and completely visible. On her recent encounters with the goddess, she'd looked blurry, turning into whatever Annabeth envied the most. Now, she saw a clear solid woman; she looked like Piper. "Love is cruel", she affirmed. "But we can't live with out it"

"And -even though it can't heal all wounds- sometimes..." Annabeth watched perplexed as Aphrodite knelt and gently placed her hand on Percy's chest, right where his heart must be placed. "it can cure our poison"

Suddenly, her fingers started to glow, it was the godly glow she had always been advised to advert her eyes from but this time she couldn't. It spread from her fingertips to his chest and unto the wound. Then, as quickly as it had appeared it vanished. 

She looked up at Annabeth with a smile on her face. "I'd advice you to call a medic now, sweetheart"

*********************

Annabeth didn't know what was worse, being in there or being out here. 

It'd been hours. They'd rushed him -Percy- as fast as they could, all stunned at 1. he'd killed a giant without the help of a god and 2. he'd been at the verge of death as they brought him into the Argo II's sickbay. 

Thalia, the hunters and some Apollo kids had followed, but at the end only Thalia, Will Solace and Phoebe had stayed to try to cure him. The poison may have left but his wounds were still severe. 

She hadn't been in the best state either. She had wounds of her own and was practically having a mental breakdown; Thalia had to force her to sit down and get medical attention. They couldn't fully take her of her injuries like this, but, if they weren't going to let her go in, no one was going to move her away from outside the sickbay's door. She'd never felt more desperate in her life. 

After what seemed like an eternity to her, the door opened and Thalia, Will and Phiebe shuffled out, looking drained and tired but not too bad as to make her think Percy was dead. "So?" she croaked.

"You can come in now"

Shakily, she stood up. She was trembling too hard.  _Stop it,_ she told herself balling her fists.  _You have to be strong, for him._

Thalia looked at her and she looked back. Her eyes held the steel she needed, she was so strong. She now knew how strongly she'd loved Luke, to lose him.......she could've never imagined the effect, until now. 

They hugged and she was stunned to actually hear some silent sobs from her. "He'll be fine," she hugged her tighter. "He'll be fine"

It was quite the sight having Annabeth Chase and Thalia Grace hugging and crying over Percy Jackson. Everyone around them was silent, they'd won a war but only now had they really felt triumphant. 

She had to lean on Thalia, just then realizing how tired and sore she felt. "See," Thalia told her when they walked in to a heavily bandaged, bloodied, but somehow still breathing Percy Jackson. "He's alive, Annabeth. Now please let us take care of you." 

Annabeth felt herself nodding, but by then everything had finally caught up to her body and she felt herself going faint. She just needed to be certain, to know, he'd come back.

 

 

She woke up a few hours later in a cot at the sickbay. They probably hadn't moved her from fears of waking her up. She still felt a little sore, but had made it out relatively unscratched. Once she shook the remnants of sleep off, the memory of Percy, lifeless in her arms came rushing back and she burst out of her cabin. Thalia was waiting for her outside.

"I'll take you to him," she said before Annabeth could get a word out, rolling her eyes blue eyes at her slightly.

Annabeth followed Thalia around the Argo II. The air had gone from tense to deliciously fresh since she'd woken up. The buzz of conversation rang and Annabeth couldn't help but smile as she saw Leo and Calypso giving everyone a tour of the ship. Things were looking up, but she still had to check on Percy.

Thalia stopped in front of his door and opened the door for her, leaving them alone. Slowly, she entered his cabin. They'd moved him from the sickbay to give them both space. They figured that everyone would come to her for long conversation afterwards and she was clearly not in the mood. 

He was asleep, she could see the peaceful rise and fall of his bandaged chest even under the cozy light. She knew she didn't have to be careful, he wouldn't wake up anyways. They'd told her he'll be okay, but it still brought tears to her eyes seeing him like this. He looked pale and feverish, his handsome face covered in bruises. 

She gently rubbed her thumb against a particularly nasty looking one in his eyebrow, comforted by the warmth of his skin and the feel of his breath against her wrist. Annabeth hated seeing him like this, but some part of her always remember those first days. The days when she cared for him for the first time in Camp Half-Blood´s hospital wing. So much had changed since then.

Her fingers traced a path down his eyebrow unto his jaw, she barely noticed him stir. "Hi there," greeted, his voice, hoarse and weak.

"Sorry, I didn't wan't to wake you up"

"Thasokay"

He seemed so normal; a stupid grin adorned his cracked lips as he looked at her. Almost as if he hadn't been dying a couple of hours earlier on her lap. Almost.

"Hey" She didn't even realize she'd been crying. "Don't cry on me, Annabeth. I'm fine"

"You were gone", she sobbed.

"I would never leave you"

********************

"Annabeth!" he calls, waving from the water seated on top of a blue surfboard. "You coming in or what?!"

Her gaze had diverted to the tattoo on his chest, right where his heart probably is, a dove. 

"I'm coming!"


End file.
